


a serviceable villain

by havisham



Category: King Lear - Shakespeare
Genre: Crossdressing, Dysfunctional Relationships, Feral Behavior, M/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:48:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: Edgar receives a mysterious visitor on the eve of his wedding.
Relationships: Edgar/Edmund (King Lear)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: RelationShipping 2020





	a serviceable villain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ellenos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellenos/gifts).



The arrival of Edgar’s bride had been naturally delayed due to storms across the countryside. She was a foreign lady and was arriving by ship. Her coming had filled Edgar’s heart with a particular sort of dread that he knew was beneath him. He promised himself that when she did come, he would honor her well. He was not his father; he did not plan to humiliate his wife… 

But still, she was delayed and delayed again. This was the second time they had prepared for her coming, but for naught. The wedding party had long since dispersed at the news that likely the lady would not arrive. Edgar retired to his flower-scented bedroom alone, but he could not sleep. His thoughts turned to Edmund, who had made himself scarce after the news of Edgar’s marriage broke. 

It was not _that_ which kept Edmund away, however, Edgar was sure. His brother flourished at court and was now the dueling favourite of both Princesses Regan and Goneril. He had no time to concern himself with Edgar’s marriage. His own seemed unlikely, as both his lovers outranked him vastly and were, besides, already wed. 

There was a soft and hesitant knock at the door. Edgar supposed it to be a servant performing his last duty of the day. He went to open the door and found before him the very vision of his missing bride. 

She was richly dressed in the Spanish style -- and as carefully veiled, though her mantilla was cut low enough that he could see the strand of diamond and pearls which graced her neck. Her form was shapely and when she held out her hand, it was a delicate white hand, heavy with jewels. Edgar looked upon her as if she was an apparition, but she coughed after a moment and asked in a thin whisper if he would not let her in. 

“Are you lost, my lady?” Edgar asked with all his mustered courtesy. Even so, he took her proffered hand eagerly. He would kiss it -- he _did_ kiss it, for he could not resist such a hand as that. 

“Do you not recognize your dutiful wife, sir?” she asked, and Edgar was astonished. Had the storm abated enough for the ship to come in? Why had no one told him? And yet, even now the rain drove hard against the casement of his windows, and above them groaned the deep bass of thunder. 

Perhaps his first instinct was right and she was a ghost. 

But then she pressed herself boldly into his arms and her flesh was warm -- even hot to the touch. She knocked the door closed with her shoe, and the sound of it echoed through the castle. Edgar had enough wit about him to secure the lock. He did not wish for any interruptions. 

“Have me, take me, make me yours,” she commanded, pulling aside her veil enough to kiss him. Edgar kissed her back eagerly but pulled away for a moment to protest. 

“My lady, I fear that you are mistaken. I am promised to another,” Edgar said. “Though my heart beats for the love of you. I cannot continue this --”

“Do you not recognize the promise you gave me?” she demanded. “Were all your words false? You are as your father was, then.” 

The pretense could not now continue. Edgar pulled aside the veil to look upon the face of his brother. His voice was loud and incongruous to the hushed atmosphere of the bridal chamber. Disapprovingly, he said, “Edmund, you go too far.”

“Why do you call me by that false name? Do you not acknowledge our vows?” Edmund said, pushing Edgar to the bed. His veil had been tossed aside so Edgar could see Edmund’s face entirely, the way it was made up so carefully and so completely. He must have borrowed it all from the princesses. 

Or else, Edgar thought a tremor of distress, his bride now lay dead somewhere, robbed of both her finery and her station. No, no, Edmund would _not_ — 

Would he not, indeed? 

They kissed again, and the crimson from Edmund’s lip transposed itself on to Edgar’s. Unlike his brother, Edgar was but lightly dressed in a sleeping shift, which he pulled off quickly. Then he lay shivering against the weight of Edmund’s dress, the elaborate stitching scratching against his vulnerable skin. He waited for Edmund to undress, but his brother did not bother. Instead, he hitched up his skirt and presented Edgar with his hard prick and an expectant expression. 

Edgar got on his knees with a shaking breath. He took a hold of Edmund’s prick — which was so like his own — and began to stroke it. He listened to Edmund’s hitched breathing. He was not as unaffected as he pretended. How could he be, when Edgar had evidence of his ardor in his hands? 

“It’s a sin what we do, and yet I cannot condemn you leading me here,” Edgar mused. 

“Condemn or no, but pray go on,” Edmund said sharply. Despite his tone, however, Edgar could see the strain on his face. He would not last long and so Edgar indulged him, as he often did. It seemed he sucked some time, but in truth, it was not long until Edmund jerked back and dribbled come down Edgar's neck and chest. 

At Edgar’s reproachful glare, Edmund took some pity on him and withdrew a cloth from some hidden recess of his dress and gave it over to him. Whatever devilish spirit had animated him thus far seemed now to depart. He allowed Edgar to gather him up and lay beside him on the bed. 

A feeling of peace descended over them, which Edgar promptly destroyed by asking how he had come to the castle in such a hurry and in such dress without being caught. Edmund laughed. “Why do you assume I was not caught? Even now, the castle is alive with gossip of you letting unknown ladies into your rooms on the eve of your wedding day.” 

“All of this to make me seem a rogue? You didn’t need to go so far as that,” Edgar said, and leaned in and pressed a kiss on Edmund’s cheek. “You know you have my love, chief of all.” 

“What use have I for your love?” Edmund spat out. He leaned closer to Edgar and said, “But if you mean it, show me. Let me leave you a token of my love as well, my dear brother.” 

Perhaps Edgar was a fool not to take this as it was meant to be taken. His brother had always been one for dramatics, but they had such little time alone that he was forced to move the conversation by himself. With unaccustomed bluntness, Edgar said, “So you want to fuck me then?” 

Edmund frowned. With a dramatic sigh he said, “You could at least pretend to be shocked. I have gone through so much trouble to find this outfit. You haven’t even said that you liked it or that I look pretty in it. This is why I hate you.”

“You don’t hate me,” Edgar said, kissing him deeper and more passionately. “I know that already. You wouldn’t have gone so far and done so much if you hated me.”

“Spoken like a true fool,” Edmund spat out. “I resented you from the moment of my birth.”

“Nonetheless, I love you,” Edgar declared. “I would let you do anything to me if you can forgive me for the accident of my birth and yours.”

“That is a mighty concession — if true,” said Edmund. He withdrew a vial of oil from one of his secret pockets with a flourish. He smiled. With his mussed hair and melted paint, he seemed more a witch than a princess. Edgar could not have desired him more. 

He reached out and took hold of Edmund’s necklace and twisted it tighter around his hand, bringing it and him closer. “Has our father not always said — don’t promise. Do.” 

Edmund's smile was feral and adoring. Edgar grinned back, just as eager. They kissed again. And Edmund pulled apart Edgar’s thighs, caressing the inner muscle before he fisted Edgar’s prick. He licked his lips as if in anticipation, but shook his head sharply. 

He was rough — even slovenly — with his preparation; it seemed as though he too was infected with a sense of urgency. The oil spread thinly into Edgar’s hole, accompanied by Edmund’s spite. When he guided his prick in, Edmund paused. Edgar, trying not to clamp his thighs too tightly around him, asked what was the matter.

“Imagine our father coming in now, and seeing his darling boy taking his bastard’s cock. He’d be struck dead.”

“Why is _he_ the one you’re thinking of _now_?” Edgar demanded, in a rare loss of temper. Edmund seemed to recognize it as such, as he pressed in. He fucked well, did Edmund, with practiced thrusts. The rumors had it that he left his royal paramours well-satisfied.

But, Edgar thought as Edmund kissed him, fucked him and scratched at him, Edmund did not mark them as he did his brother. That was between the two of them. That belonged to them, as did the siren’s call of their shared blood.

“Imagine what a monstrous child we could’ve begotten amongst ourselves,” Edmund said with a sharp thrust. 

“Fuck,” Edgar said. 

There was nothing more to say about that. 

*

When Edmund came inside him, Edgar felt the rush of it and groaned. He lay back and watched Edmund take off his dress and all his small clothes and leave them ruined beside the bed. Then he crawled toward Edgar, as naked as the day he was born. 

“Where did you get such an idea?” Edgar said, picking up the veil that had fallen upon his pillow. He carefully put it back on Edmund’s head and wrapped it around his dark hair. He admired it for a moment before Edmund pulled himself loose.

“It was a wedding gift,” Edmund said. “For both you and your lady. I could not send you to her a rank virgin.” 

“Very generous of you,” Edgar said dryly. “I thank you.”

*

The ship did not arrive. Edgar was yet unmarried when the King stepped down from his throne and all his true troubles began. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta, E!


End file.
